Ramya, Mandya MP, has reconstructed a road in Karadi Koppalu, a remote village in the taluk, using her own funds.

The road was in a dismal condition for several years. According to village residents, it was worse than a dirt track, making travel difficult even for two-wheelers. Taxi drivers would refuse to come to the village even during emergencies. Ms. Ramya noticed the condition of the road while passing through the village recently and upgraded the mud road to a concrete one, under the ‘R.T. Narayan Charitable Trust’, established in her adopted father’s name.

Initially the MP thought of developing the road by using grants available. As it would take several months to develop the road under the government schemes due to procedures, Ms. Ramya reconstructed the road by spending her own money, sources close to the MP said.

Neglected village

Karadi Koppalu is one of the remote villages in the taluk that falls under the jurisdiction of the Mandya Assembly segment. The population is around 600, and majority belong to backward communities.

Shivalli, Bilidegula and a few other villages in the vicinity of Karadi Koppalu have asphalt roads. However, the condition of the road from Gunnayakana Halli-Basaralu was pathetic. Villagers at Karadi Koppalu said that authorities had neglected the Karadi Koppalu road for years.

“Several times, we had requested officials to carry out maintenance, but, they were reconstructing and repairing roads of other villages in the surroundings of Karadi Koppalu,” Mariyappa, a villager, told The Hindu.

Fed up with this attitude, villagers had decided to repair the road themselves by collecting money from the public. They were about to form a road development committee which would have been headed by elders at Karadi Koppalu. However, Ms. Ramya took the initiative to upgrade the road, Beerappa, another villager, said.

The MP was unavailable for comment due to health issues. Her personal assistant Kannika told The Hindu that the new road would be informally inaugurated on January 1, 2014. The villagers said that they would honour Ms. Ramya after the inauguration.